2017 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA (750ml) VERITAS

TASTING NOTES:

This year is a milestone for Chappellet: It’s the 50th anniversary vintage from Pritchard Hill as well as the 20th vintage of Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine personifies the beauty of mountain fruit grown on steep, well-drained, rocky slopes; the low yields exhibit a remarkable concentration of fruit and, no doubt, the ability to age for years to come. With 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec blended in, the wine aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. It performs a slow dance, its beauty, elegance, and structure evolving with each sip. The saturation of blue and black fruit and the presence of lilac, mulberry, dates, and spiced sandalwood are inspiring. Deep notes of coffee and chocolate wash over the finish.
– Tasting Panel, 98 pts

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant black cherries, warm cassis, chocolate pie and blackberry preserves notes plus nuances of wild sage, forest floor and tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is elegantly played and refreshing with velvety tannins and a long mineral-tinged finish.
-Robert Parker, 96 pts 

The flagship is the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill, and this cuvée just about always represents the pinnacle of mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. The 2017 is 100% estate Cabernet Sauvignon and reveals a deep purple color as well a stunning bouquet of blue fruits, burning embers, dark chocolate, sage brush, and crushed rocks. It’s powerful, full-bodied, and concentrated, and the tannins clamp down on the finish enough to warrant hiding this beauty in the cellar for a solid 5-7 years. If drinking today, give it an hour or two in a decanter. It’s another stunning wine from this estate.
-Jeb Dunnuck, 95 pts 

Blueberry, blackberry and blue-slate aromas. Medium body and firm, silky tannins. This is a little tight now, so give it two or three years to soften. Try after 2022.
-James Suckling, 93 pts

WINEMAKER’S NOTE:

Powerful, profound, and impeccably structured, this wine captures the essence of great mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. As it evolves in the glass, concentrated aromas of blueberry, blackberry, and black currant meld with hints of anise, graphite, complex herbs, dark chocolate, espresso, and spice. Though lush and viscous on the palate, a supple elegance frames the rich black cherry and ripe berry flavors, with taut underlying acidity adding poise and purity to a long resonating finish.
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec